Papa Broadens its Business with New Impact Programs to Address Social Drivers of Health and Improve CMS Star Rating Measures

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Feb 05, 2024, 08:30 ET

Proven, flexible impact programs leverage Papa's trusted companion care workforce and social care navigators to support health plans in addressing health-related social needs and closing critical care gaps

MIAMI, Feb. 5, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Papa, an end-to-end human care network supporting social needs, introduced new impact programs today designed to help health plans achieve specific objectives tied to social drivers of health (SDoH) and Medicare Star Ratings.

Papa's SDoH Navigation and Star Enhancement programs are part of a new set of offerings that leverage its national network of on-the-ground Papa Pals, remote team of social care navigators, and best-in-class technology platform. These impact programs, which also include a previously announced Digital Health Literacy offering, are built around configurable, well-defined objectives and outcomes that align with those from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and of which Papa has proven it can impact.

While Papa will continue to sell its core service as a supplemental benefit, health plans can now choose to layer on these configurable programs, based on the specific needs of their member populations. With each program, health plans receive population- and member-level insights so they can know more about their members' needs and easily track improvements, including robust reporting on assessments and scheduling results, as well as insights and health-related social needs reported by in-person Papa Pals.

"Phase one of our journey at Papa was mobilizing a new compassionate workforce to deliver a new kind of care," said Andrew Parker, founder and CEO of Papa. "We succeeded. We've put Papa Pals in homes across more than 7,300 cities, built strong relationships within historically hard-to-reach populations, and brought much-needed social support to people who would've otherwise had nowhere to turn. In the process, we built a systematic framework that can drive our health plan partners' objectives consistently and at scale.

"The launch of our new programs kicks off phase two of Papa. We're leveraging the trusted relationships our Papa Pals have forged with members in the home, along with our skilled social care navigators and sophisticated technology platform, to identify and methodically close care gaps and unmet health-related social needs that impact overall health and the bottom line for our health plan clients."

SDoH Navigation: A closed-loop system to address unmet social needs

The most recent evaluation of the CMS Accountable Health Communities Model, published in May 2023, found that navigation alone—without on-the-ground, engaging support for members—was not enough to resolve health-related social needs. While close to 80% of eligible Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries signed on for navigation support, more than half saw no benefit to health-related social needs, nor were they connected to community services.

Through its platform, in which Papa Pals serve as trusted "eyes and ears" in the home and report back findings via an easy-to-use application, Papa is uniquely positioned to both identify and help resolve unmet health-related social needs. While continuing to connect individuals with critical needs of all kinds to appropriate resources and/or their health plans for support, Papa's new SDoH Navigation program focuses on these common challenges members face:

Housing insecurity
Food insecurity
Home and environmental safety
Transportation access
Access to care
Medical financial insecurity
Community engagement

With this program, plans can expect to gain a better understanding of the root cause of their members' needs and see more successful connections to community resources, as well as higher resolution of health-related social needs, ultimately helping to reduce the negative outcomes and higher costs associated with SDoH.

"Trust is the greatest asset we have in health care," said Parker. "We deploy trusted companions to make sure members follow through on their referrals, schedule necessary meetings or appointments, and have reliable transportation and support to make it there and back. Sometimes this means helping the member translate complex medical information, advocating for them if they feel they're not being heard, or helping them physically navigate the doctor's office if they're living with a disability. We are not another point solution. We leverage trust to drive meaningful outcomes. In our experience, this level of personal support makes all the difference."

Star Enhancement: A CMS Star Ratings improvement program targeting open care gaps

CMS Star Ratings are a crucial factor for health plans and the funding they receive each year, and declines in ratings can have a serious negative impact on the effectiveness of a plan. Papa's new Star Enhancement program focuses on advancing healthcare actions that directly impact Medicare Star Rating measures, including:

Annual wellness visits and in-home assessments
Health immunizations
Preventive and disease-specific screenings, such as cancer screenings and diabetic eye exams

The program's utilization of on-the-ground Papa Pals and remote social care navigators drives results for historically hard-to-reach populations and non-compliant members, often beyond what care management teams can achieve alone. As in the SDoH Navigation program, Papa Pals fill critical gaps that members often struggle with, like reliable transportation to the doctor or pharmacy, in-person support with benefits navigation or medical forms, and importantly, emotional support and motivation.

This approach has a proven success rate, exemplified in a pilot program among rural Medicare Advantage members with a diabetes or hypertension diagnosis and at least one Star measure care gap, from May-December 2022. In the study, Papa members who were provided with social care navigation and support from Papa Pals had a 6% higher composite care gap compliance rate when compared to the control group—meaning in general, Papa members had higher completion rates for CMS Star-related screenings and appointments. When just a 1% improvement can make the difference in reaching the next CMS Star measure threshold, every closed care gap matters, and that's especially true among harder-to-reach populations.

For more information on Papa's plan-led impact programs, visit www.papa.com/sdoh-navigation-program and www.papa.com/star-enhancement-program.

About Papa
Papa is a new kind of care, built on human connection. Across the country, health plans and employers look to Papa to provide vital social support by pairing older adults and families with Papa Pals, trained and vetted companions, who provide a helping hand and an open ear, resulting in less loneliness and better health. Furthered by its remote team of social care navigators, Papa also offers ancillary outcomes-driven impact programs designed to help health plans improve health equity, enhance Star Ratings, and reduce costs. Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Miami, Papa is backed by Canaan, Tiger Global Management, Comcast Ventures, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, TCG, Initialized Capital, and Seven Seven Six, among other revered institutional and individual investors. We envision a world where no one has to go it alone. Learn more at papa.com.

Papa Media Contact:
Jill Bongiorni Meadows
[email protected]

SOURCE Papa Inc.